Brian Eno

Ambient pioneer, glam rocker, hit producer, multimedia artist, technological innovator, worldbeat proponent, and self-described non-musician -- over the course of his long, prolific, and immensely influential career, Brian Eno was all of these things and much, much more. Determining his creative pathways with the aid of a deck of instructional, tarot-like cards called Oblique Strategies, Eno championed theory over practice, serendipity over forethought, and texture over craft; in the process, he forever altered the ways in which music is approached, composed, performed, and perceived, and everything from punk to techno to new age bears his unmistakable influence.

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno was born in Woodbridge, England, on May 15, 1948. Raised in rural Suffolk, an area neighboring a U.S. Air Force base, as a child he grew enamored of the "Martian music" of doo wop and early rock & roll broadcast on American Armed Forces radio; a subsequent tenure at art school introduced him to the work of contemporary composers John Tilbury and Cornelius Cardew, as well as minimalists John Cage, LaMonte Young, and Terry Riley. Instructed in the principles of conceptual painting and sound sculpture, Eno began experimenting with tape recorders, which he dubbed his first musical instrument, finding great inspiration in Steve Reich's tape orchestration "It's Gonna Rain."

After joining the avant-garde performance art troupe Merchant Taylor's Simultaneous Cabinet, as well as assuming vocal and "signals generator" duties with the improvisational rock unit Maxwell Demon, Eno joined Cardew's Scratch Orchestra in 1969, later enlisting as a clarinetist with the Portsmouth Sinfonia. In 1971 he rose to prominence as a member of the seminal glam band Roxy Music, playing the synthesizer and electronically treating the band's sound. A flamboyant enigma decked out in garish makeup, pastel feather boas, and velvet corsets, his presence threatened the focal dominance of frontman Bryan Ferry, and relations between the two men became strained; finally, after just two LPs -- 1972's self-titled debut and 1973's brilliant For Your Pleasure -- Eno exited Roxy's ranks to embark on a series of ambitious side projects.

The first, 1973's No Pussyfooting, was recorded with Robert Fripp; for the sessions Eno began developing a tape-delay system, dubbed "Frippertronics," which treated Fripp's guitar with looped delays in order to ultimately employ studio technology as a means of musical composition, thereby setting the stage for the later dominance of sampling in hip-hop and electronica. Eno soon turned to his first solo project, the frenzied and wildly experimental Here Come the Warm Jets, which reached the U.K. Top 30. During a brief tenure fronting the Winkies, he mounted a series of British live performances despite ill health; less than a week into the tour, Eno's lung collapsed, and he spent the early part of 1974 hospitalized.

Upon recovering, he traveled to San Francisco, where he stumbled upon a set of postcards depicting a Chinese revolutionary opera that inspired 1974's Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), another sprawling, free-form collection of abstract pop. A 1975 car accident which left Eno bedridden for several months resulted in perhaps his most significant innovation, the creation of ambient music: unable to move to turn up his stereo to hear above the din of a rainstorm, he realized that music could assume the same properties as light or color, and blend thoroughly into its given atmosphere without upsetting the environmental balance. Heralded by the release of 1975's minimalist Another Green World, Eno plunged completely into ambient with his next instrumental effort, Discreet Music, the first chapter in a ten-volume series of experimental works issued on his own Obscure label.

After returning to pop structures for 1977's Before and After Science, Eno continued his ambient experimentation with Music for Films, a collection of fragmentary pieces created as soundtracks for imaginary motion pictures. Concurrently, he became a much sought-after collaborator and producer, teaming with the German group Cluster as well as David Bowie, with whom he worked on the landmark trilogy Low, Heroes, and Lodger. Additionally, Eno produced the seminal no wave compilation No New York and in 1978 began a long, fruitful union with Talking Heads, his involvement expanding over the course of the albums More Songs About Buildings and Food and 1979's Fear of Music to the point that by the time of 1980's world music-inspired Remain in Light, Eno and frontman David Byrne shared co-writing credits on all but one track. Friction with Byrne's bandmates hastened Eno's departure from the group's sphere, but in 1981 he and Byrne reunited for My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a landmark effort that fused electronic music with a pioneering use of Third World percussion.

In the interim, Eno continued to perfect the concept of ambient sound with 1978's Music for Airports, a record designed to calm air passengers against fears of flying and the threat of crashes. In 1980, he embarked on collaborations with minimalist composer Harold Budd (The Plateaux of Mirror) and avant trumpeter Jon Hassell (Possible Musics), as well as Acadian producer Daniel Lanois, with whom Eno would emerge as one of the most commercially successful production teams of the '80s, helming a series of records for the Irish band U2 (most notably The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby) that positioned the group as one of the world's most respected and popular acts. Amidst this flurry of activity, Eno remained dedicated to his solo work, moving from the earthbound ambience of 1982's On Land to other worlds for 1983's Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, a collection of space-themed work created in tandem with Lanois and Eno's brother Roger. In 1985, Eno resurfaced with Thursday Afternoon, the soundtrack to a VHS cassette of "video paintings" by artist Christine Alicino.

After Eno produced John Cale's 1989 solo effort Words for the Dying, the duo collaborated on 1990's Wrong Way Up, the first record in many years to feature Eno's vocals. Two years later he returned with the solo projects The Shutov Assembly and Nerve Net, followed in 1993 by Neroli; Glitterbug, a 1994 soundtrack to a posthumously released film by Derek Jarman, was subsequently reworked by Jah Wobble and issued in 1995 as Spinner. In addition to his musical endeavors, Eno also frequently ventured into other realms of media, beginning in 1980 with the vertical-format video Mistaken Memories of Medieval Manhattan; along with designing a 1989 art installation to help inaugurate a Shinto shrine in Japan and 1995's Self-Storage, a multimedia work created with Laurie Anderson, he also published a diary, 1996's A Year with Swollen Appendices, and formulated Generative Music I, a series of audio screen savers for home computer software. In August of 1999, Sonora Portraits, a collection of Eno's previous ambient tracks and a 93-page companion booklet, was published.

Around 1998, Eno was working heavily in the world of art installations and a series of his installation soundtracks started to appear, most in extremely limited editions (making them instant collector's items). In 2000, he teamed with German DJ Jan Peter Schwalm for the Japanese-only release Music for Onmyo-Ji. The duo's work got world-wide distribution the next year with Drawn from Life, an album that kicked off Eno's relationship with the Astralwerks label. The Equatorial Stars, released in 2004, was Eno's first work with Robert Fripp since Evening Star, the 1975 follow-up to No Pussyfooting. His first solo vocal album in 15 years, Another Day on Earth, was issued in 2005, followed by 2008's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, another collaboration with David Byrne. In 2010, Eno signed to the Warp label, where he released Small Craft on a Milk Sea, a collaboration with Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins. The following year's Drums Between the Bells featured poet Rick Holland, as well as several vocalists. Eno returned to his ambient style of recording with Lux in late 2012. His next project, was a collaboration with with Underworld's Karl Hyde. Bonding over a shared love of Afrobeat, the pair worked on a bunch of intros Eno had lying around but had never been able to finish, resulting in a surprising collection of unusual pop songs. The finished album, entitled Someday World, was issued in May of 2014, followed by the pair's second album, High Life, a scant two months later. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Don't read this because it actually works. You will be kissed on the nearest Friday by the love of your life. Tomorrow will be the best day of your life. However if you don't post this you will be injured(but you won't die) in two days. Now you started reading this so don't stop. Post this on at least 5 songs in the next 143 minutes. When you're done press f6 and your lovers name will appear on the screen in big letters. This is so scary because it actually works

2 months ago

Report as inappropriate

kindersads526

Sorry, I ment to say,Hey,I'm playing this cool new game My Muppets Show and I thought you might want to try it out.

Just click on this link:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disney.mysingingmuppets.goo .Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2 months ago

Report as inappropriate

kindersads526

I am szzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Hey,I'm playing this cool new game My Muppets Show and I thought you

rarely comment on any piece - even the ones that are beloved - but Thursday Afternoon is majestic and powerful yet simple and sweet so a second comment - whom else is majestic/simple and powerful/sweet?

Let's not forget also that Brian Eno has an extensive interest in and participation with Academia, in particular with The Long Now Foundation. Brian is truly a Renaissance Man! I wish I could meet him some day. Without that, I can say only, best wishes Brian. May you live long and prosper in wondrous health!

11 months ago

Report as inappropriate

myjob98

Stunning, extraordinary and out of this world. He is in a higher dimension. Creating and offering the ambience of music… he is a pioneer indeed... wish I was like him....

11 months ago

Report as inappropriate

raydianthealth

Amazing that of all he has done, the LP he is most remembered for is his Ambient Album, Music for Airports, first heard it on Hearts of Space in SF in the 1980's. I NEVER TIRE OF IT. TOTALLY RELAXES ME WHENEVER I HEAR IT NO MATTER WHAT IS GOING ON IN MY ENVIRONMENT!Grace in Space, Ambient DJ.

Lmao music for airports is my s**t I love blasting it when I'm in public especially since I am tattooed and have inch and a half plugs in my ears and I'm always jamming it when I have my 120 lbs bulldog/pit bull mix dog in my dunk which is a 1987 Cadillac with 24 inch rims and it's painted grape colored with the word boss etched in to the rims lmao and I'm a little bit of a hippie which I found kinda weird because my father hates hippies so I still do it just to piss him off

The magic of Thursday Afternoon is an enchantment of the ordinary, an appreciation of simply taking a breath and of feeling the rising warmth of the Sun on grateful skin. Of abiding and sensation. Wonderful.